It’s time for a mammoth update:

Now that’s out of the way I’ll talk about what’s been going on the last few weeks.

I’m not sure why but whenever I sit down to talk about what’s been going on my mind generally goes blank.

It goes as blank as a blank thing at blanksgiving (whatever the hell that is. If you please could you tell me).

In the past few weeks I had the second appointment with the healthy mind psychology practitioner people. That went well. We talked about starting to look at things in different ways. So looking at some of the things that trigger my anxiety. Or that set me off on a trip to that awkward not very nice place. It’s about looking at those thought and feeling and going into them a little deeper to look at just the evidence that backs up the bad feeling, thoughts and emotions. And also looking at the evidence against those things. The evidence against them is usually on the list of unhelpful thinking habits. Like Mind-Reading which is assuming we know what other people are thinking about. Critical Self, putting yourself down, self criticism and blaming ourselves for situations that aren’t totally our responsibility. Catastrophising that’s believing the worst possible thing could happen.

I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I’m guilty of quite a few things on that list of unhelpful thinking habits.

Over the past few weeks, after the second appointment, I did this thought diary evidence exercise with a couple of different things that had been playing on my mind. And afterwards I felt a lot better about them. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share these things but that defeats the object of trying to keep this blog open and honest.

So here goes.

The first thought/situation I looked at was about crafting. “Are the things I make really any good or are people just saying that they are, but don’t mean it?”

Number 2 “I was worried about what people thought about me for admitting I having mental health issues”.

And a 3rd was “Do the people I see as friends really like me or do they hate me and tolerate me”.

Going through the evidence exercise there were very few things to back up these thoughts and feelings. But the evidence against column was rather full. Mostly with things from the Unhelpful Thinking Habits list. If you want to see that list you’ll be able to find it with a quick google search. Like I said earlier after I went through the evidence exercise I felt a lot better about the things I mentioned.

I do think my cards are good.

I don’t think people will think less of me for admitting I have mental health issues

I don’t think anymore that the people I see as friends hate me.

So after that deep and meaningful section a few other things that have happened over the last few weeks.

I’ve had another trip out for a lie down in a noisy polo, also known as an MRI. It’s been Mother’s Day. It’s been Mum and Dad 51st wedding anniversary.

It was rather poor planning on mum and dad’s part though. It was just rude that they had their wedding anniversary on the same day as Mother’s Day. I really do think they should have planned that better. 51 years ago why did they not know they would have me and that I’d make cards. I had to make 4 cards for that day. An anniversary card for mum to give to dad, 1 from dad for mum, 1 from me to them both and then a Mother’s Day card as well.

And this is the Mother’s Day card I made for mum.

I also made a Mother’s Day gift too. Which has also started off a new hobby to add to the ever growing list of hobbies and crafts I do.

I made her a wire craft Mum wrapped in woollen cord.

I’ve made some other cards over the past few weeks too:

I also made a card that was a special request for a friend. It was a 21st birthday card:

And the card came in a box and this is the box I made:

I was told the people I made it for loved it and that Olivia was over the moon when she received it.

Onto Sanntangle, here are the tiles I’ve done over the past couple of weeks:

I’ve also been doing a few other bits of crafting too. I’ve made a few more signs with flowers on:

And I made another spray of foam flowers

Here is a close up of one of the flowers:

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that arrangement. It might go on a card or maybe another sign or possibly something completely different. I’ll figure that out when the time comes to use it.

I can’t think of anything else to talk about now so this mammoth update isn’t exactly mammoth unless you count the mammoth picture earlier. I’m not sure if I could say mammoth as many times in a paragraph so here’s a few more mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth.

I think that’s enough of that.

Mammoth

Love and light

P.S. mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, mammoth.

P.P.S. Check in on your loved ones and make sure they’re doing ok. You don’t always know the battles other people are having with their mental health.

Big love and keep shining.